Thursday, 28 December 2006

I've two appeals here one for Malaysian Red Crescent Relief Fund and the other one is for the Orang Asli community in Endau Rompin affected by the recent floods. Please read on.

Malaysian Red Crescent Relief Fund

The Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) is appealing to the general public including the private sector and corporate organisations for generous contributions towards the Malaysian Red Crescent Relief Fund set up to provide financial and relief assistance to people affected by the floods.

All cash contributions are tax-exempted and are to be made payable to:"Malaysian Red Crescent Society" or Maybank A/C No - 5144 2210 3788 or call Tel: +603 - 4257 8726, Fax: +603 - 4257 3537 (Operations Room) for details. Those who would like to have a tax-exemption receipt must fax in your bank-in slip and details (name, address and contact no) to the fax stated.

MRCS is also appealing for items that will be distributed to the various relief centres as follows:

Paulyne is involved with the rescue and relief team for the Johor Orang Asli Flood Victims at Endau Rompin. She is extending an SOS plea to Kechara members and the public for urgent donation to buy basic necessities like water, food, blanket, medication & manpower to help with distribution, etc. In response, Kechara House is setting up a task force for collection and organization of this appeal.

Paulyne has been involved in a private initiative to help the Orang Asli at Endau Rompin for the past one year. The Mission to bring supplies and medicine to the settlement will commence on the 5th of January 2007. ( see below for more details)

More background from Paulyne on 22 Dec:

There're about 450 Jakun tribe people squatting in the Endau Rompin National Park HQ, totally cut off by floods, with inadequate medical and food supplies. Many already started having diarrhea and we suspect cholera will follow soon.

A major relief mission has been organised, involving volunteers from KL, Penang and S'pore. There's always room for a team from Kechara House. Please bear in mind that only heavy-duty vehicles will be permitted for this mission. I will personally go into the jungles as part of the mission. Be reminded that only very experienced off-track drivers will be accepted as this can be dangerous. Those who are keen to go, you have to take anti-malaria medication immediately, pls. get them from me.

Next, the mission has been scheduled for 5-8 Jan, Michael (team leader) will be briefing all participants before the trip. Those who are prone to skin allergies, scared of leeches, snakes, are not encouraged to participate. Once in the jungle, we'll be cut off from all communication, so please keep yourself fit for the trip. Please ask them to contact me for more info, if required.

More from Paulyne on 21 Dec:

Here are more info about the plea for help. .... this morning, my friend Michael received a call from Endau Rompin Park that the entire orang asli is under water. Their livestock is gone, and so are most of their belongings.

Being a neglected community, they're appealing to people like Michael and myself for aid. We have just sent them shoes and goodies for school kids a few weeks ago.

Fortunately, there no loss of human lives yet, but some of them are beginning to show signs of illness, diarrhea and very soon we suspect cholera will set in. There are no medical facilities nearby, the nearest town Kahang is about 2 hours away by road and currently all roads are not passable to any kind of vehicles.

What is worrying most is a tree called the 'Ipoh' tree (I think) which will emit poison once its bark is wet. We really worried that the flood waters will probably carry this poison into the rivers and kill all the fishes and prawns as well.

We are inviting caring members of Kechara House to collect donations in cash and kind towards the purchase of water, milk, food, blankets, towels, clothes (which we've already collected plenty by now but still need a lot of children's stuff) and medication.

As soon as the roads are open to heavy vehicles, I'll be heading to Endau Rompin to assist in distributing the things to the stranded orang asli. Members are most welcome to be part of the team but only heavy-duty vehicles and 4WD can be used for this mission. Kembaras and Vitaras are out! And drivers must be very experienced, team members are expected to get dirty!

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We've gotten one sms last nite asking the public not to donate instant noodles to the Orang Asli cos they don't take them but bee hoon is most welcomed.

Friends who're reading this,

If you do not fancy calling the members at Kechara House, you can call me too, I can get your donations to route there!

I hope everyone have enjoyed their Christmas and I'm so happy I could access blogger and some blogspot sites today. We're praying that they gonna reroute or fix the underwater cable soon. Goshhh so many disasters happening round the world. Just a reminder... have you guys made your donation to the Malaysian Flood Relief fund? Not yet?? Okay will post up a plug next.

I've successfully made a very lovely Sticky Toffee Date Pudding with Donna Hay's recipe from Modern Classics Book 2. The pudding has cake like texture and it's lovely even on its own without the toffee sauce. I find the sauce is a tad too sweet, so might need to cut down the amount of sugar. I've used organic brown sugar for the toffee sauce which lend a darker and richer colour.

Best served the pudding swimming in toffee sauce with some sinful vanilla ice-cream.

Sunday, 24 December 2006

The Menu for Hope III had come to a close... with a BANG!!!! Yea... the amount food bloggers have raised this year have surpasses many folds as it stands at USD58,281.70!!! I would like to thank you to all donors be it raffle ticket buyers or to those who have donated gifts and services, the organisers especially Pim. Your generousity will help us feed the children of the world thru the UN World Food Programme.

May Lord Buddha bless all kind soul who have made this a success.

Don't forget to tune in on 15 January 2007 for the results of the draw.

Christmas Fruitcake

Remember my Christmas Fruitcakes project??? I've gave away all the fruitcakes to our close family members and friends save for one small one for ourself. I hope they gonna like them cos I certainly did. I just had a slice and I have to say it's dense, flavourful and heavily sedated with brandy haha cos I was greedy. I didn't air it for a while before eating!

Here are some photos for you to enjoy... hmmm who knows next year you might be able to order these from me kekeke... so keep your fingers crossed.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Christians and those of you who are celebrating Christmas... a blessed Christmas.

Don't these cookies looked festive and nice??? Well, it was supposed to be Donna Hay's Star Cookies recipe that I gotten from the latest edition of Donna Hay Magazine. Somehow, the dough is simply too soft to be rolled out and cut out with cookies cutter. My poor boiboi... I had promised to let him cut the cookies with the star-shaped cookie cutter, anyway he had fun too sprinkling colour sugars and bead on the cookies.

I had added extra flour into the dough mix but yet it turned out sooo soft. I ended up rolling the dough into balls then flatten with the back of a fork. However, the cookies tasted superb... buttery with melt-in-the-mouth texture. I got rounds of compliments from my guinea pigs!

Preheat oven to 180C. Place butter and sugar in electric mixer and beat till pale and creamy. Add vanilla and egg yolk, beat till combined. Add flour and beat till smooth doughs forms. Divide dough into 4 portions and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 15 mins or until dough is firm. (I've left it in there for more than 2 hours which is rather firm but sort of like melted right out of the fridge.)

I've coloured my sugar to make them looked more festive... spoon some sugar in a bowl and drop liquid colouring onto sugar. Mix well till colour is blended. Add in more drops till you get the colour you desired. Remember to work with very small amount of colouring. Otherwise the whole batch of sugar will become too dark.

Oh yeah, leave the cookies to cool in the tray for a while before lifting out as they will still be a bit soft.

Friday, 22 December 2006

Today the Chinese are celebrating Dong Zhi (Winter Solstice Festival) which is the most important festival of the year. I've been busy as ever with work and I had cancelled my leave today but thank goodness I do not need to stay back late today. This means I can go back to my parents' home for a homecooked festive meal... YAY!!!!

Last year, I had mentioned some of the dishes that will regularly appeared from my mom's kitchen but this time, AHEM, I've got pictures to show!

Would there be lotus root soup or old cucumber soup?

Steamed chicken which I think a must.

Siu yoke (roasted pork)

Deep fried fish.

Hakka Zhar Nyuk (braised pork with sea cucumber and black fungus).

Or would there be braised pork ribs with sea cucumber and clams?? Psssttt... usually there is a sea cucumber dish cos my mom super sayang (love in Malay) her one and only son-in-law!!! He loves sea cucumber.

In one day, it'll be gone yeah your chance on buying raffle tickets to win all the fantastic prizes. This is the final call!

I've been humbled by the whole experience and was impressed with the generousity. The amount we have raised so far had breached USD40K mark!!!! Yippee... the actual amount at the time of writing is USD44,101.70. Thank you to all donors.

Thursday, 21 December 2006

Follow up with my earlier corned beef recipe, I did this with the other half of the can. Fry onions in some oil till translucent before adding in cubed capsicums. Add in corned beef next and sprinkle with loads of black pepper. Dish up and serve while it's hot.

I've noticed quite a number of bids for AP29 which is the RM500 worth of dining voucher at El Cerdo, Kuala Lumpur. I'm not sure if some if these bidders are from Malaysia so bidders please take note that El Cerdo is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and it is a non-halalrestaurant. Please check your bids again and amend your bid prize should there be a mistake. Thank you.

Wednesday, 20 December 2006

UPDATED 10 July 2007: This restaurant has been closed down. Thank goodness!**Non-Halal Post**

Sticky Fingers Cafe & Restaurant is Located along Jalan Mesui, where the famous No Black Tie is. Jalan Mesui is over on the quieter side of Changkat Bukit Bintang happening area. There were a couple of cafe and watering holes opened in this street before but sad to say none of them could sustain except for No Black Tie whom had returned after their previous premises were taken over and converted into a bed and breakfast joint. Next to Sticky Fingers, there is one restaurant opening soon and beside this restaurant, a yoga centre is in the midst of taking shape. I hope these swanky places won't take away those hawkers in that area else no more good and cheap grubs in that area for lunch.

Anyway, I saw this discussion in Friedchillies about ribs and someone recommended this Sticky Fingers so off we went one day to wait for the bad traffic jam in the area to subside. The following are the interiors of Sticky Fingers which is very dim... bad for photography haha... so please excuse my photos.

Here are the sample menu available, click to enlarge.

Hubby ordered the Full Slab Pork Ribs at RM28.00. He asked for Original Sticky BBQ Sauce which the waitress claimed is their signature sauce. This pic is really bad huh cos I didn't have the time to fiddle with my phone settings so I just hentam with the lights on. The ribs came with corn on the cob (which I wished they could have stick a skewer in to ease eating but then again we were supposed to eat with our fingers right???), some salad which resembles coleslaw and a baked potato with a wee bit of sour cream on top. Looked huge and its full of meat... kinda bad news cos the meat is not tender at all especially on the thicker part of the ribs. We were expecting meat that can be teared off easily from the bones. The sauce is so-so only.

I asked for Half SlabLamb (RM21.00) with the same sauce just to try out this choice of meat. Looked good eh??? Meat pretty tender but could be better. Taste wise, the sauce did not manage to mask the musky smell of the lamb or most prolly they've used cheaper meat? I've no idea since I'm no expert in the meat department.

All I need to ask my not-fussy-at-all-with-food hubby was "Would you come again?". His reply was NO... so now you go figure. Worst of all I've nudged hubby to come here when we have the choice of Neroteca nearby sighhhh... very disappointed.

Tuesday, 19 December 2006

Long time no posting about my boiboi hor??? He's 4 years old already and very tall, super chi char, talk non-stop, ask non-stop, jump non-stop, run non-stop... *pulling hair*

See, my boiboi gave me this present. Wahhhh all wrapped up...

So I opened lor... hmmm... what's inside leh??

Hohoho...

The story was this... my boiboi apparently brought the cheese box (my dad usually kept stuff like these, ice-cream sticks etc for boiboi to play with) together with the coins to my dad. He asked him to help wrap up the present for mummy... wah very sweet hor my boiboi, no? hahaha

Monday, 18 December 2006

Loh Shue Fun (loosely translated as rat tail noodle in Cantonese is actually a type of rice noodles) is a very versatile noodles. You can use it in soup noodles, stir fry or simply just ladle meat sauce over it. Kids loved them!!!

This is a very simple dish, all you need is blanched loh shue fun; finely shredded cabbage, oyster mushroom, onion and carrot; and minced meat (be it chicken, pork or beef but I've never used beef before) and shrimps marinaded in some soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper and a bit of corn flour.

First, heat oil in wok and put in the onion, fry till translucent before adding in cabbage and carrots. Stir and add in mushroom last. Dish up and set aside.

Pour in oil in the same wok, and add in some chopped garlic. Once fragrant, put in the mince meat and shrimps. Fry till cooked and pour in some oyster sauce and fish sauce to taste. Add in the blanched loh shue fun and the dished up vegetables. Add a bit of water, stir fry till well mixed and until it's fairly dry. Dish up and eat while they're hot.

My boiboi who's not very fond of cabbage, whacked up everything in one go! A great dish to hide light coloured vegetables like cabbage. Try it!

Make a donation. Each US$10 will grant you one raffle ticket towards a prize of your choice. Please use the unique prize code to specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form. Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code eg. a donation of US$50 could be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 for AP02.

For US donors, if your company matches your charity donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we may claim the corporate match.

Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we may contact you should you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Raffle ticket sales end on December 22, 2006. Check Chez Pim on January 15, 2007 when we announce the results of the raffle. Prize drawing will be done electronically. Our friend, the code wizard Derrick at Obsession with Food, is responsible for the wicked application that will do the job.

Friday, 15 December 2006

If, you're in Singapore, take a look at this... Julia has offered to cater for a six-course high tea for six people. I wished I'm in Singapore!

Well, not only food stuff, but Sam have a biggie for Star Wars fans. In her package, there will be a prized Chewbacca bust that is still sealed in a gift box that has never been opened, a copy of the Star Wars Cookbook plus she's gonna bake a batch of Wookie Cookies to be included along. For more details, check here.

I'm doing this upon the request by my friend, Keriso. He asked me if I've tried this roast duck stall in The Weld's new foodcourt. He and I came across the newspaper review sometime back on this chef known as Uncle Duck from Hong Kong who specialises in roasting delicious duck. I think I've only been to this place twice at the time of asking but by now, I've gone for my fourth visit. Haha actually this place is pretty near to my work place but seriously the food stalls in this pomp food court are nothing to shout about and worst of all, they charges quite high for food court kinda food and certain stall dishes out very small portion. I guess we have to pay for the specially made dinnerware (see last picture) and the renovation cost, no?

Anyway, we have wanted to go to some other place to eat but that place was closed, hence we head to Chow food court instead. So here we are... my review, specially for Keriso. Keriso, this will cost you RM7.50 okay!!!

Yeah that was how much this set of Roasted Duck Rice costed me, the breast meat set costed RM7.50 and other parts of the duck will set you aback at RM6.50. It came with a small bowl of white rice, thinly sliced roasted duck meat, a bowl of clear broth and a plate of greens which was yien choy (spinach) this round.

The duck meat is tender but the skin is not at all crispy. Tastewise, not really great. Very far cry from Soon Fatt Beijing Roasted Duck. I had to doused the meat and rice with the sauce for some flavour. The chili sauce also no kick at all, tasted artificial. The rice portion was just nice for me but I think for the guys, they will definitely need to tambah nasi (add extra bowl of rice). However, I got hungry at 5pm which is a very rare case! Look at the empty spaces on the plate hahaha... The vegetable given is fibrous and tasted bland. Some oyster sauce with onion oil would be great on it. The only praise I could sing is their broth hahahaha very flavourful, I supposed came from boiling the duck bones.

My verdict: Keriso, I want my money back!!!!

Uncle Duck stall have rice porridge, fried rice and noodles as well. I saw some people queued for their fried rice, hmmm maybe that might be nicer. Other than Uncle Duck this food court have stalls selling Thai food which is one of the better one around, Portuguese Grill seafood, chicken rice and so forth. Pity the dim sum stall had closed down by now and they only started operation on 22nd August 2006. How sad... Hopefully the management can do something about it, if the price is high, just have to make sure the taste is good and the portion given is well worth the price. Are you hearing, The Management?

Make a donation. Each US$10 will grant you one raffle ticket towards a prize of your choice. Please use the unique prize code to specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form. Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code eg. a donation of US$50 could be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 for AP02.

For US donors, if your company matches your charity donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we may claim the corporate match.

Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we may contact you should you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Raffle ticket sales end on December 22, 2006. Check Chez Pim on January 15, 2007 when we announce the results of the raffle. Prize drawing will be done electronically. Our friend, the code wizard Derrick at Obsession with Food, is responsible for the wicked application that will do the job.

Normal postings will resume soon as I've been bogged down by work! There was one day this week I stayed up more than 24 hours to finish up some stuff for some demanding client, duh!

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

What are you waiting for??? Do bid for my cookbook sets as Malaysian food is going to be the next happening cuisine! James Oseland, editor in chief of Saveur magazine, talks about culinary colonialism, his love of home cooking and why Malaysian cuisine may be the next big thing HERE!!!

Make a donation. Each US$10 will grant you one raffle ticket towards a prize of your choice. Please use the unique prize code to specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form. Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code eg. a donation of US$50 could be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 for AP02.

For US donors, if your company matches your charity donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we may claim the corporate match.

Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we may contact you should you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Raffle ticket sales end on December 22, 2006. Check Chez Pim on January 15, 2007 when we announce the results of the raffle. Prize drawing will be done electronically. Our friend, the code wizard Derrick at Obsession with Food, is responsible for the wicked application that will do the job.

Tuesday, 12 December 2006

Last year over US$17,000 was raised during the 12-day campaign. As of 4.36am Malaysian time, the amount stood at US$2,740.00!!! Not bad for a first day, keep them coming! We're hoping for a bigger result this year.

Anyway, if you cannot afford a raffle ticket or too lazy or worried to use your credit card on the net, it's fine but would appreciate if you could drum up some kind of campaign in your blog or help us tell your friends and family members about this cause. Thanks so much.

To eek, thanks so much for your support. May good karma bestow upon you.

Monday, 11 December 2006

I have 3 sets of cookbooks to be given away and managed to wrestle a sponsorship from Werner, chef and owner of El Cerdo located in Tengkat Tong Shin, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The details are as follows:

(1) Malaysian Set[Prize code: AP26]

Malaysian Set comprises of 6 mini books published by Periplus and each book come with simple instructions and lovely pictures for each recipe. I've picked my favourites with Malaysian cuisines in mind. The six minibooks comprises of Malaysian Favourites by Wendy Hutton; Malaysian Cakes and Desserts by Rohani Jelani; Nyonya Favourites by Lee Geok Boi; Eurasian Favourites by Wendy Hutton; Homestyle Malay Cooking by Rohani Jelani and Delicious Asian Seafood by Lee Geok Boi. With these 6 minibooks in hand, you can drool over the recipes and get to understand a bit of Malaysian cuisines and its ingredients used. Who knows you might be able to host a Malaysian theme dinner in no time!

(2) Nyonya Set[Prize code: AP27]

Nyonya Set come with 2 books - Nyonya Flavours, A Complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine jointly published by The State Chinese (Penang) Association and Star Publications (M) Bhd show cases the history, goods and of course the food plus recipes of Penang Nyonyas. The second book, Hawker's Kuih-Muih Favourites, published by Famous Cuisine come in bilingual edition of Chinese and English. Though not really related to Nyonya theme but it has a lot of cakes and sweets that is fittingly Nyonya.

Just look at the contents above depicted in Nyonya Flavours, A Complete Guide to Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine. There are some history and introduction to Penang Nyonya and I simply loved those colourful and vibrant photographs from dinner ware, cooking utensils, food, festivals and of course the people.

I've included this Hawker's Kuih-Muih Favourites as well since many of Malaysian kuih-muih (sweet/savoury cakes and desserts) are of Nyonya origin. Some of the recipes came with a pictorial step-by-step guide.

(3) Vegetarian Set [Prize code: AP28]

Vegetarian Set is sponsored by hubby, KK. This set have Azrah Kamala Shashi's Vegetarian Feasts (under Celebrity Chef's Cookbooks series) published by Times Edition and Over 80 Great Vegetarian Cuisines published by Famous Cuisine.

Azrah's came out with quite a number of Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai and Western mouthwatering vegetarian recipes. A short pictorial introduction on some of the Asian ingredients are included as well which I personally think is a wonderful idea as some of us might not know how the ingredients looked like.

Meanwhile, the Chinese-English bilingual edition of Over 80 Great Vegetarian Cuisines focused mainly on Chinese style vegetarian fare. Methods to make mock meat are included in this volume! I'm going to get my own copy in my next trip to the bookstore!!!

(4) El Cerdo Dining Voucher worth RM500 [Prize code: AP29]

I managed to rope in Werner, Chef and owner of El Cerdo, a restaurant that specialises in anything pork, to sponsor something. I'm feeling ecstatic now cause Chef Werner had generously pledged a dining voucher worth RM500 to dine in his restaurant - El Cerdo. El Cerdo is a non-halal restaurant located in Tengkat Tong Shin, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hence this prize is limited to those living in the Klang Valley or to those who are willing to come to Kuala Lumpur to savour the delicious offerings by Chef Werner. El Cerdo specialises in porcine delights and I personally would like to recommend the pork knuckle for 2. It's slightly different from the usually knuckle, the skin is rubbed and topped with some herbs and garlic. The skin, aside from being crispy, have a fragrant herb aroma with a subtle hint of garlic. It taste just wonderful.

That's all I managed to wrestle and should there be any restaurant owners or food bloggers reading this in Malaysia and feel like taking part, please contact me at babe_kl(at)yahoo(dot)com as soon as possible. We can try to accommodate your pledges before December 22 but try to make it earlier (and not wait till December 22) so we can do a bit of promo for your pledges.

Do check out the rest of the prizes available in Asia Pacific region over at Grab Your Fork or Chez Pim for the round up of prizes offered around the world before placing your donation and bid at First Giving.

Make a donation, each USD10 will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize or prizes you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. Do tell us how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code -for example, a donation of USD50 can be 2 tickets for AP01 and 3 for AP02.

For US donors, if your company has agreed to match your charity donation, please remember to check the box and fill in the information so we may claim the corporate match.

Please also check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on January 15 when we announce the results of the raffle. (The drawing will be done electronically. Our friend the code wizard Derrick at Obsession with Food is responsible for the wicked application that will do the job.)

All I wanted to say is be generous and to quote Chef Werner "It's for the children"! Your support to this cause will be tremendously appreciated by us all. Thank you in advance for your donation.